Victoria’s Secret runway show took place last night and the list of entertainers who performed was impressive: Nicki Minaj (above), Kanye West (who is obvs LIVING in those black leather pants–lol such a dude thing to do, he probably has 20 pairs), Adam Levine and the king himself, Jay Z. See the fellas on the next page.
The legendary Madonna with Andrea Riseborough is on the cover of Harper Bazaar’s December issue (see a second version on th next page). Inside she’s interviewed by Naomi Wolf and speaks about some of her favorite topics–money, power & respect and their impact on women. Riseborough is the star of a movie, W.E., which Madonna directed and is now promoting. The following are some key quotes from the article:
“For some reason, I feel like I never left high school, because I still feel that if you don’t fit in, you’re going to get your ass kicked. That hasn’t really changed for me. I’ve always been acutely aware of differences and the way you are supposed to act if you want to be popular.
”I’ve consistently come up against resistance in certain areas. I think that the world is not comfortable with female sexuality. It’s always coming from a male point of view, and a woman is being objectified by a man — and even women are comfortable with that. But when a woman does it, ironically, women are uncomfortable with it. I think a lot of that has to do with conditioning.”
“One of my father’s famous quotes — and I love him dearly, but he’s very, very old-fashioned—was ‘If there were more virgins, the world would be a better place.’”
“When women are perceived as powerful and doing something they aren’t supposed to be doing, they are often portrayed as sexual predators.”
Read more at Bazaar and see the alternate cover on the next page. All images via Bazaar.
New on the scene and hailing from Australia, by virtue of her gender, color, blonde good looks and the genre of music she has chosen to embrace, rap artist Iggy Azaela is going to stir up plenty of controversy. In a perfectly styled video, she performs her latest single, “My World,” and whips her hair with the best of ‘em–see a gif of her doing just that on the next page!
We posted some sneak peeks last week and here is the full video (we think–there seems to be an endless intro and then no real performance of the song beginning to end) for Duran Duran’s “Girl Panic.” The fashion and photography are gorgeous but not sure the conceit of having the Supers taking on the rolls of the members of Duran Duran was such a great idea. See for yourself but we couldn’t helped but be reminded that a girl on film looking gorgeous doesn’t necessarily translate to ability to act.
Thanks to a video tape showing Kanye West going off on the lighting guy for messing up the lights (though some are saying it’s part of the act and he’s doing the same thing in all his shows) for “All Of The Lights” during his “Watch The Throne” concert this past weekend, a lot of people are also noticing the outfit West performed in. The top is Givenchy but no one seems to have identified the leather skirt yet (perhaps lent by Marc Jacobs?). The kicks are the Nike Air Yeezy style launching later this month.
Anyway, interesting to see rap fashion trend less conservatively. From Lil Wayne’s leopard leggings to now Kanye in a skirt, it certainly makes for more compelling entertainment. And who knows, maybe it’s a positive sign that rap is becoming less obsessed with the “no homo” sadness of the early 00s.
We showed a sneak peek of the finished “Girl Panic” video by Duran Duran yesterday and today Style has a behind-the-scenes look, which includes an explanation of how the band came up with the idea of having supermodels take on their roles as musicians for the video.
Wonderland magazines puts controversial new pop-star Lana Del Ray on its November/December cover. Shot by AJ Numan, she’s wearing jewels by Prada. Not yet aware of Del Ray much less the controversy? It boils down to her lips being fake or not (I’m gonna go to hell for writing this but I actually think they are paid for), which is shallow, yes, but more reflects on the “Manchurian” nature of her rise to fame. Indeed, even the young and hip enjoy a juicy conspiracy or two. You want more, check out Hipsterrunoff for the complete rant.
If you just want to judge for yourself, check out a recent video for “Video Games” on the next page.
We mentioned the December release of Amy Winehouse’s posthumous album, The Lioness, last week, and now its looks like we’re going to get tastes of it in the days leading up to its official launch. The single featured here is “Like Smoke,” a collaboration with Nas. Besides being a nice pairing, it’s all the more compelling because of the rumored affair between the two, detailed in Winehouse’s song “Me & Mr. Jones.” Still, like any posthumous launch there will be valid criticisms about the appropriateness of releasing material sans the artist’s final stamp approval.
